


Absent

by Skunkjaw



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Mouth trauma, Original Character(s), Really not much but it's there, Wisdom Teeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:34:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24496537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skunkjaw/pseuds/Skunkjaw
Summary: Paige returns home from having her wisdom teeth removed. Francis deals with the aftermath.
Relationships: Paige Andrews/Francis Petsch
Kudos: 1





	Absent

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to write something short and fun and it resulted in this. It's been sitting in my drafts since mid-May, and after doing some more editing, I decided to say screw it and post.

_“I’m ho-o-ome.”_

Francis blinked rapidly, a bit taken back by the sight of Paige’s manic, bloodstained smile, her cheeks swollen and stuffed with cotton. She pushed past him and into the apartment, immediately wandering towards the kitchen.

His gaze shifted towards Marleen. Marleen, with her straw-blonde hair and disapproving stare. She looked at him with mild disdain, lips pursed. “Have fun,” she offered, gesturing towards Paige, “she’s been a hoot and a half.”

The problem had started a few weeks ago with Paige complaining about a developing ache in her jaw. That had quickly turned into a dentist appointment, which turned into the unfortunate news that, at twenty-five, her wisdom teeth had erupted.

Though he’d fretted about the fact that he wouldn’t be able to take her to the appointment himself, Paige had shrugged it off, saying she could get a friend to take her and it wouldn’t be a problem. _Marleen_ , however -

“Don’t let her do anything dangerous, and make sure you change her gauze,” Marleen sighed, holding out a prescription bag and Paige’s keys like a peace offering. “This’ll last for awhile, hopefully she just sleeps it off.”

Considering this, Francis took the pharmacy bag in one hand, keys in the other. “Thanks for taking her,” he muttered, raising the prescription, “and for getting this.” The sun wouldn’t be down for another two hours, which would’ve made getting her medicine a problem.

Marleen shrugged, dismissing it with a wave of her hand. “It’s no problem. It was funny as hell, actually. She was telling the nurse that she had to get home to her _vampire boyfriend_.” She broke down into laughter, shoulders shaking with the effort of her amusement.

Francis forced a laugh, glancing into the kitchen to track down Paige; she had the freezer open, and was digging through it with a ferocious intensity. _We’ll talk about that later._

“You know how she is,” he mused, “that imagination of hers never stops. The drugs definitely aren’t helping.”

“Can’t say I blame her,” Marleen replied dryly, “not with this whole…” She gestured towards him, “... look, you have going. Have you tried tanning?”

Francis raised his eyebrows incredulously, mouth thinning into a straight line.

“...I burn easily. Have a good night, Marleen.”

Staring at him for a long, awkward moment, she finally nodded and stepped out the door.

“See ya, Paige-”

Her farewell was cut off as Francis closed it behind her abruptly, sighing in frustration as he locked the deadbolt. He tried to like Paige’s friends, he did, but that one in particular bugged at him like a gnat.

He headed into the kitchen cautiously, placing the items on the counter and watching Paige’s fastidious searching for a few heartbeats before interrupting: “What are you looking for?”

“My popsicles,” Paige whined, voice muffled. “My popsicles are gone. You _ate_ them, didn’t you?” As if to further her point, she shook a bag of frozen carrots like they owed her money. Two minutes in, and it was already proving very hard not to laugh at her.

“No,” Francis managed, voice carefully restrained, “I promise I didn’t eat them. _You_ ate them, remember?”

She turned to him, still clutching the carrots. “They were right here,” she mumbled, “in my fridge.. with the rest of the food. I didn’t eat them. You took them.”

He stepped towards her, hands outstretched, palms-up. “Why don’t you come and sit down? You’ve had a long day… I’ll get you some popsicles later, okay?”

It would be better to distract her from… whatever this was.

She sighed heavily. “Replacing the ones you _stole_.” Tossing the bag of carrots on the ground with a faint thud, Paige stared at them in confusion before bursting into obnoxious laughter.

The sharp scent of blood was heavy in the air, and it was obvious that she was irritating the incisions with all of this action.

Trying not to breathe too deeply, Francis moved forward to carefully take her arms, guiding her towards the living room. Thankfully, she obliged. “You need to be careful,” he chided, “just relax, alright? I’ll get anything you need.”

Setting her on the couch, Francis sat beside her, carefully stroking back some hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. She mumbled something vaguely, glassy hazel eyes focusing on her hands.

“What?”

Another incoherent murmur.

“Paige… Can you say that again?” He was more frustrated with himself, really - what use was superhuman hearing in this situation?

**_“MILKSHAKE.”_ **

She practically shouted the word, irritation flashing over her expression as her hands balled up into fists. He actually flinched, brows furrowing as he realized again, he wouldn’t be able to provide her request.

“I’ll get you one later,” he promised, “but I said anything you need. Milkshakes aren’t essential.”

“I need it,” she grumbled, tears welling in her eyes. “I’ll just go get it myself.” Rising to her feet suddenly, she stumbled about two feet away before Francis caught her again.

“Let’s just sit down, okay?”

She briefly thrashed against him before settling again, reluctantly letting him place her back on the couch. She slumped against the leather cushions, looking up at him expectantly. Francis hesitated before sitting again, reaching out to gently touch her cheek. “Your gauze needs to be changed,” he explained, “can you sit here while I get it?”

“What gauze?”

He suppressed a smile, trying very hard not to laugh. “The stuff in your mouth, Paige.”

“There’s nothing in my mouth.” She sounded very sure of this fact, even as she idly chewed on the cotton.

_That’s why she’s bleeding so damn much._

“Stop that,” he scolded, “you have gauze in your mouth for the bleeding. You keep messing with it like that, you’re gonna take forever to heal.”

Paige’s mouth fell open, looking at him in mild horror. “What bleeding?” Dark, dried blood flecked the corners of her lips, teeth still red with it. The brief urge to kiss her flashed through him.

“You had your wisdom teeth pulled,” he explained slowly. “Your mouth is bleeding because of that. I need to change the gauze so the blood will actually be absorbed - you’ll get sick if you swallow too much.”

“You swallow a lot of my blood,” Paige pointed out absently. Her face screwed up a bit, nose wrinkling. “Doesn’t taste good.”

He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Instead, he took her hands, squeezing them lightly before letting go and rising to his feet. “Don’t move, okay? Just a minute.”

She dismissed him with a wave of her hands, hissing out what he thought might be a scoff.

Moving swiftly, Francis trotted back into the kitchen, putting away the various frozen items that Paige had strewn about, before sorting through the pharmacy bag. Marleen had been kind enough to put everything together, so it only took a moment to reveal the gauze. Grabbing a blunt pair of scissors, and the bottle of pain meds, he headed back into the living room with a new air of caution.

Paige hadn’t ran off, thankfully, but she was pulling at her lower lip curiously, with her eyes nearly crossed.

He watched this for a long moment, wondering if she’d come to some kind of conclusion, before making his presence known again. “Hey.”

She looked up, hazy eyes focusing on him. “Can’t feel my face,” she murmured, “if I can’t feel it, is it still there?”

“Your face hasn’t gone anywhere.” Admittedly blowing smoke up his own ass, Francis was impressed with the amount of patience he felt. Paige, of all people, was worth it.

He sat next to her again, setting the supplies on the coffee table and reaching out to carefully take her chin. “Can I change your gauze? I just need you to open up.”

Paige let put a raucous laugh, swiping her tongue over her teeth before stretching her mouth open wide. Bloody saliva pooled in the floor of her mouth, the blood-soaked gauze coming out easily as he pulled it free to discard on the table.

_I’ll clean it later._

He couldn’t help but wince at the sight of the black stitches knit into her gums, blindly reaching for the clean gauze, cutting off a few strips, and packing it into place quickly.

Paige made a faint defiant noise, pulling back and out of his reach. Francis wiped his bloody fingers off on his jeans, suppressing a sigh.

“Can I have a milkshake now?”

“I already said I’d get you one later.”

“Asshole.”

They stared at each other in silence for several moments.

Francis cracked a smile, unable to stop an amused laugh from bubbling through him. He buried his head in his hands, still snorting with laughter as Paige joined in, her muffled giggles drawing close.

She leaned in to rest her head on his back, her laughter warm against him. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, “you _are_ an asshole, but that wasn’t nice. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Francis managed with a snort, “you aren’t the first and you won’t be the last to call me that.”

Paige’s soft snickers continued, rubbing her face against his shirt like a cat. He sat up straight, reaching to pull her into a hug. She sighed and leaned against him, closing her eyes at last.

“Hey,” he squeezed her arm lightly, “you need to take your medicine too, okay?”

“I don’t wanna,” she whined, shaking her head. “Just wanna nap.”

He pursed his lips, absently rubbing the soft skin of her arm as he considered this. She was hardly in the state of mind to be making her own decisions, but he didn’t want to _force_ her to take it.

“Do you wanna go lay down?” He asked instead. She groaned slightly, nodding her head.

Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Francis helped her to her feet, carefully steering her towards the bedroom. She leaned against him heavily.

_She’ll be numb for awhile - she doesn’t need the pills right now._

“We’ll take a nap,” he assured her as they walked, “and then I’ll go shopping. Okay?”

“Go gimme that milkshake.” She nodded solemnly, stumbling through the doorway. He helped her sit on the edge of the bed before bending to slip off her sneakers, tossing them aside.

She flopped backwards, letting out a faint giggle. Francis watched her curiously, waiting to see if she’d move, before prodding her side. “Scoot up.”

“I’m a beached whale,” she mumbled, before letting out what he could only assume was a butchered impersonation of a whale call. Paige wiggled around, collapsing into more muffled laughter.

He snorted, watching her fondly. “What the _fuck_ ,” he muttered, shaking his head and clambering on the bed to gently pull her up and onto the pillows.

She finally settled into the bed, dark auburn hair tousled and coming free from her updo. He carefully pulled the scrunchie out, leaning over her and placing it on the nightstand.

Paige reached for him, tugging at his shirt until he laid next to her and she could curl against him. She wrapped her arm around his, holding it close to her chest as her eyes finally closed.

He shut his as well, nose buried in her hair; he was thankful to sleep off the last of the daylight hours.

“Your elbows are bony as shit.”

Well, maybe he’d get some sleep. “I know, Paige.”

“They’re shaped like knives.”

“You’ve told me that before.”

“You could whittle a boat with them. Or a… bear thingie. The little wooden bears.”

“Please go to sleep.”

She responded with an offended huff, but fell silent. Within a few minutes, her breathing had deepened and she’d begun to faintly snore. What bliss.

**Author's Note:**

> As a side note, Paige's mouth was definitely inflamed when she woke up. Francis doesn't think things through. Don't be like Francis.


End file.
